March through May, 2005 - Approximately twelve contacts (telephone conference calls and e-mail exchanges) finalizing plans for the May 26, 2005 conference and/or discussing plans for the September 15, 2005 "Ask OSHA" Roundtable meeting with small and medium size employers.

Events and Products

Training and Education

Events

June 17, 2004 - "2004 Annual OSHA and Workplace Safety Conference" sponsored by the PA Chamber. OSHA staff presented two workshops. One was a general workshop on compliance with OSHA Standards. The second workshop dealt with OSHA inspection procedures.

The first year of the Alliance was primarily devoted to initial planning activities and providing support and speakers for the Chamber's 2004 and 2005 Annual Safety Conferences. Similar activities will occur during the second year of the Alliance, however, we will also try to establish an effective means for distributing OSHA information to the Chamber's 10,000 members (see Section V). There is frequent distrust of OSHA and the Federal government amongst small employers and our initial efforts will be geared toward alleviating those fears and establishing effective communications.

1. September 15, 2005 - a half day "Ask OSHA" Roundtable presentation and open forum discussion with small to medium size employers is scheduled for the Holiday Inn, Grantville, PA.

2. Two or three meetings will be held with the Chamber representatives during the next year to develop and implement procedures for disseminating OSHA information to their members. The Pennsylvania Chamber is currently the second largest state Chamber in the United States. They have over 10,000 members; 82% are considered small employers with less than 100 employees and 1/3 of their members have less than 10 employees.